A time capsule buried by Princess Diana more than three decades ago at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has been unearthed, and inside was an unexpected Aussie link.
In March 1991, the Princess of Wales, helped by two children, sealed the capsule and laid it alongside a foundation stone during a ceremony at the hospital.
The contents were chosen through a competition, with the winning children receiving Diana’s approval as they packed the capsule.
GOSH is undergoing major redevelopment to build a new children’s cancer centre, forcing the removal of the capsule and foundation stone.
The capsule contained a collection of moisture-damaged items, among them an unexpected fine, a Kylie Minogue CD.
The album was Rhythm of Love, Minogue’s third studio release, which came out in 1990.
The Australian pop star has long had links with the royal family, having first performed at the Royal Variety Show in 1988.
Other items found in the capsule included a pocket television, a solar-powered calculator, British coins, a European passport and several smaller mementos.
Princess Diana had become patron of the renowned children’s hospital in 1989 and remained a frequent visitor right up until months before her death in 1997.
When the capsule was buried at the hospital’s entrance in 1991, the original plan was for it to remain sealed for 100 years.
But redevelopment plans brought forward its reopening.
Diana’s ceremony was also designed to echo a similar event in 1872, when Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the then Princess of Wales, laid a sealed time capsule with the foundation stone for one of the hospital’s older buildings.
That 1872 capsule has never been found, making the discovery of Diana’s all the more significant.
To honour the late Princess’s original ceremony, only people who either worked at the hospital in 1991 or were born that year were invited to be part of the extraction.
“It brought back so many memories seeing the pocket TV in there,” said Janet Holmes, Senior Health Play Specialist, who was working at GOSH in 1991.
“I had bought one for my husband back in the day, for when he had a break whilst driving his coach around the country. They were very expensive then!”
Images: GOSH/Instagram
